Wednesday

The volunteer coordinator for the Bridge Youth Ministry Center smiled and joked with kids who came through the door as she dug into her orange bowl of candy filled with gumballs, Mounds, Nerds and Gobstoppers.

“This is awesome,” she said, smiling.

The Bridge, along with more than 30 other businesses, opened their doors from 3:30 to 5:30 to provide those 13 and younger and their families a safe environment to trick-or-treat and enjoy cider and doughnuts.

Within just 10 minutes of the trick-or-treating event beginning, Rutgers had already seen 20 trick-or-treaters and all sorts of different costumes — Buzz Lightyear, a wizard and a giant pumpkin head.

It was fun for her to talk with the kids and see all the different costumes.

“Our ministry is about children and this makes us part of this community,” she said.

The event, in its first year, was developed by Kerri VanDorp, the city’s events coordinator.

“I was looking for something to do in the fall and this isn’t something that Zeeland has done before and just doing some research, it’s been successful in other downtowns and I think Zeeland’s got a great downtown to do it,” she said.

VanDorp said with about 39 downtown businesses participating, all on the same street, children who were looking to stock up on candy could do it pretty quickly.

“Even in inclement weather, the businesses are still close together, you can hit 40 stops in 30 minutes,” she said. “You can get more bang for your buck, if you’re a kid and thinking of candy intake.”

In addition to downtown businesses, other organizations including the Salvation Army set up tents to pass out candy.

The fire and police stations were also there talking about safety when trick-or-treating.

“Why wouldn’t you want to do this?” Bob Murphy, an employee at Brummels Home Furnishings, said as he handed out candy. “To make kids happy.”

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